Still from “Dynamo” by MFA candidates Linda Diec, Liz Roberts, and Lexie Stoia. Photo from www.wexarts.org.

Six CCAD student films will be screened at the Wexner Center for the Arts on April 26 as part of Ohio Shorts, an annual event that showcases the best work of filmmakers and media artists from across the state.

Ohio Shorts will take place on April 26 in the film/video theater of the Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N. High St., Columbus, OH, 43210.

Allsop is from Tacoma, WA (Tacoma School of the Arts); Granger is from Euclid, OH (Euclid High School); Hochstetler is from Westerville, OH (Westerville North High School); Kim is from Surrey, British Columbia (North Surrey Senior Secondary School); Moore is from Wooster, OH (Waynedale High School); Pines is from Northville, MI; Powers is from Smyrna, GA (Kiev Christian Academy); Preston is from Columbus, OH; Roberts is from Delaware, OH; Smith is from Blacklick, OH (Licking Heights High School); Stoia is from Orient, OH; Taylor is from Columbus, OH; Thatcher is from Signal, TN (Chattanooga Christian School); Vanqa is from Gaborone, Botswana (Abbotts College Northcliff); and Yuhasz is from Youngstown, OH (Boardman High School).

An advanced animation class at CCAD has just completed a project that is now being entered in national festivals. The Advanced Time-Based Projects class, taught by Associate Professor Tom Richner, created an animated short named Lumin.

Lumin tells the story of a young boy and his escape from dozens of monsters who pursue him for one thing, his light.

The 17 students in the class spent four months creating the film from start to finish, working on all aspects from script writing and sound development to animation and final editing.

“We [the Animation faculty] have been talking about working on complete films during the course of a class,” Richner said. “When we saw the talent that was in this past fall’s class we knew we had to make a film with this group.”

“I was really impressed about how all the students handled the whole semester,” Richner said. “There was never a point where we got behind schedule. They all bought into the project and took ownership and worked very hard.”

“A lot of these students have aspirations to go work in studios, big and small, and the nature of animated films is that you need a lot of bodies to get these projects done. Working in a studio environment means that they are going to be collaborating with people, so I think giving them that chance to do it here gives them the opportunity to fine tune those skills they’ll need in the real world.”

The class had to make some decisions in order to finish the project on time, such as creating it in black and white instead of color and keeping the length of the video managable.

“Even though we did do some things on the design end to make it easier, we didn’t cut any corners in terms of the story we wanted to tell; we did what we set out to do,” Richner said.

Character line-up from the animated film “Lumin”

To complete the project, the class used Toon Boom, animation software package.

“It is a great thing for students to be exposed to this software in school since a lot of studios are currently using it,” Richner said. “We’ve had it in our classrooms here CCAD for more than 10 years now, and we were some of the early adopters of it.”

Alumni have said that their experience with Toon Boom in CCAD classrooms was beneficial as they began their careers.

“We have heard from animation alumni who have been able to stand above their peers when they can express to directors that they know how to use the software,” Richner said.

Becker is from Dublin, OH, and graduated from Dublin Scioto High School; Campbell is from Worthington, OH; Crowley is from Milford, NH, and attended Milford High School; Cumpson is from Chesterland, OH, and attended West Geauga High School; Dearing is from Westerville, OH, and attended Saint Francis De Sales High School; Kain is from Kettering, OH, and attended Kettering Fairmont High School; Kim is from Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, and attended North Surrey Senior Secondary School; King is from Hamilton, OH, and graduated from Ross Senior High School; Kurniawati is from Salatiga, Indonesia, and graduated from Loyola Catholic Secondary School; Maue is from Bellbrook, OH, and attended Bellbrook High School; Nunn is from Wilmington, OH, and graduated from Wilmington High School; Pezzatta is from Columbus, OH, and graduated from Fort Hayes Metro Education Center; Reed is from Ashland, OH, and attended Ashland High School; Trimpe is from Cincinnati, and attended Elder High School; Thornberry is from Cambridge, OH, and attended Cambridge High School; Ward is from Cincinnati, and attended the School for Creative & Performing Arts; and Zawisa is from Columbus, OH, and attended Grandview Heights High School.

Update on April 25: Lumin won a Telly Award in the “use of animation” category.